Small caps close up; MNLU, SFLY and PALG lead gainers

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The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) pushed higher Thursday, boosted by talk that the Obama stimulus plan and his measures to help banks could include a provision to suspend the “mark-to-market” accounting provision that many say hurts financial balance sheets. Some of today's small-cap gainers were Mainland Resources (Nasdaq:MNLU), Shutterfly Inc. (Nasdaq:SFLY) and PetroAlgae (Nasdaq:PALG).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• The headline figure on claims came in at 626,000, which was way above the forecast of 592,000 and which marked the highest figure since 1982.
• The number of continuing claims rose to 4.78 million, which is the highest figure on record. 
• Swiss Re, the world’s second-largest insurance firm tumbled hard and said it would cut dividends while raising cash from Warren Buffett.
• The Bank of England sliced rates by 50 basis points down to 1%, the lowest rate since the venerable bank was formed back in 1694.
• The latest reading on productivity was released; productivity came in at 3.2%, well above the 1.4% projection. 
• The factory orders report at 10:00 a.m. ET came in at minus 3.9% and included a hefty downward revision to last month’s report.
• Even though equities were able to shrug off the gloomy claims and factory data, Treasury markets moved higher. 
  

Small-Cap Gainers:

• Oil and gas exploration firm Mainland Resources Inc. jumped 40% to the highest point since September without any apparent fresh news. See (Nasdaq:MNLU). 

• Shutterfly Inc. climbed 27% as the Internet personal publishing site released quarterly results. See (Nasdaq:SFLY). 

• PetroAlgae Inc. jumped 33% to a record high daily close on very light volume. See (Nasdaq:PALG).  

Small-Cap Losers:

• ABIOMED Inc. was down 21% as the medical devices firm took an earnings-related hit. See (Nasdaq:ABMD).
• Gartner Inc. fell 26% as the IT firm beat the earnings estimate, but presented a gloomy 2009 outlook. See (NYSE:IT).
• Life Time Fitness Inc. slumped 20% as the operator of workout facilities released preliminary earnings news. See (NYSE:LTM).